More Homocysteine Dangers
The high animal protein diet is the source of yet another risk indicator for heart disease--excessive levels of homocysteine. This substance may be even more important than cholesterol levels and may be involved in a large percentage of heart disease cases.
Homocysteine is formed in the body from methionine, an amino acid found in all protein foods, but is two to three times higher in meat, eggs, milk and cheese than in plant protein. As with cholesterol, some homocysteine is needed and utilized by the body, but a dietary overload of methionine in the form of a high animal protein diet produces an overabundance which must be converted to nontoxic compounds by the dietary nuitrients folate, vitamin B-6, and other B-vitamins. If these nutrients are in short supply, as is the case in the average American diet, then homocysteine levels remain high and damage blood vessels leading to heart problems and strokes.
Kilmer S. McCully, M.D., writing in The Homocysteine Revolution, (Keats Publishing, Inc. CT) points out that human populations that are mainly vegetarian take in less methionine than those eating meat and dairy products. This according to the Harvard trained physician and researachers, helps explain why vegetarians are relatively protected against arteriosclerosis compared with those eating largely of meat and dairy products. Plenty of fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains, nuts and seeds--abundant in a correct plant-based diet offer adequate folate and B-6, necessary to recycle homocyestine into harmless breakdown products.
Daily coffee drinking, too, increases the risk of heart disease by boosting homocysteine levels in the blood. The relationship, according the already mentioned Norwegian study was much stronger than was shown in previous studies linking coffee and blood cholesterol levels. A clear dose response curve showed that the more coffee consumed, the higher the homocysteine levels. Smoking further increases these levels, according to the study. --(The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 1997).
Suzanne